Black employees at The New York Times were 47.2% less likely than a white one to receive a high performance rating last year, according to a labor union report that argues that the paper is ignoring systemic racism in its own ranks, The Washington Free Beacon reported.
The alleged bias was even greater against Hispanics, who were 61.2% less likely to receive a high rating, according to the union study.
The report, based on analyses by Times journalists in the The NewsGuild of New York, states that the newspaper has discriminated against employees of color for years, citing as one example the fact that no black employee received the highest performance review rating from management in 2020.
The allegations are particularly striking, The Washington Free Beacon points out, because The New York Times has stories on a regular basis alleging racist practices across the United States, but is seemingly unconcerned about carrying out discriminatory practices for which it criticizes others.
"Guild members who believed their contributions weren't fairly rated in the review process have said they feel demoralized and alienated — a pernicious outcome as The Times attempts to recruit and retain a diverse workforce," the report stated. "Management has denied the discrepancies in the performance ratings for nearly two years, time it could have instead spent trying to make the system better for everyone."
Minority staffers who spoke with the union for its study said they found the review process both "confusing and frustrating," with one saying he left the newspaper after getting a poor performance review, despite receiving verbal praise from management for his work.
The union report also criticized as flawed an analysis conducted at the paper's request by law firm Seyfarth Shaw, which found that there was no evidence of a "systemic [racism] problem."